250px, Façade. The Abbey of Sant'Antonio di Ranverso is a religious complex at

Buttigliera Alta Buttigliera Alta is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Turin about from Turin in the Susa valley in Piedmont, northern Italy. It is not far to Avigliana, of which it once was a part. History It first became an autonomous fief ...

, in the

Metropolitan City of Turin The Metropolitan City of Turin ( it, Città metropolitana di Torino, Piedmontese: ''Sità metropolitan-a 'd Turin'') is a metropolitan city in the Piedmont region, Italy. Its capital is the city of Turin. It replaced the Province of Turin and co ...

, northern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

History

The

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

(also known as

preceptory A preceptor (from Latin, "''praecepto''") is a teacher responsible for upholding a ''precept'', meaning a certain law or tradition. Buddhist monastic orders Senior Buddhist monks can become the preceptors for newly ordained monks. In the Buddhi ...

) complex was founded in 1188 by

Humbert III of Savoy Humbert III (1136 – 4 March 1189), surnamed the Blessed, was Count of Savoy from 1148 to 1188. His parents were Amadeus III of Savoy and Mahaut of Albon. He ceded rights and benefits to monasteries and played a decisive role in the organizati ...

, who give it to the Regular Canons of St. Anthony of Vienne, as a restoration point for pilgrims and a treatment center for people infected by

ergot Ergot ( ) or ergot fungi refers to a group of fungi of the genus ''Claviceps''. The most prominent member of this group is ''Claviceps purpurea'' ("rye ergot fungus"). This fungus grows on rye and related plants, and produces alkaloids that ca ...

. With the outbreak of the

Black Death The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...

in the 15th century, the abbey also took care of the new contagium. St. Anthony was chosen due to its widespread depiction in company of a small pig, an animal whose fat was used for the treatment of the plague. The complex was modified and rebuilt several times. It initially included a hospital, of which only the façade remain, the preceptory itself and the church. The latter appears today in Lombard-Gothic style, after its renovation in the 14th-15th centuries. Annexed to it is the bell tower, also in Gothic style (14th century). The interior was decorated with numerous frescoes starting from the 13th century, some of which painted by

Giacomo Jaquerio Giacomo Jaquerio ( 1375 – 1453) was an Italian medieval painter, one of the main exponents of Gothic painting in Piedmont. He was active in his native Turin, in Geneva and in other localities of Savoy. Biography He was born into a family of ...

in the early 15th century. Also by him is the ''Ascension to the Calvary'', in the sacristy. In the presbytery is a polyptych by

Defendente Ferrari Defendente Ferrari (c. 1480/1485 – c. 1540) was an Italian painter active in Piedmont. His work marks the transition from late Gothic traditions to Renaissance art in the region. Life and work Ferrari was born at Chivasso, near Turin. ...

(1531).

References

External links

Page at piemonteitalia.eu
{{Coord, 45, 4, 52, N, 7, 26, 58, E, source:dewiki_type:landmark_dim:1_region:IT-TO, display=title 15th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Sant'Antonio di Ranverso Gothic architecture in Piedmont Saint Anthony the Great abbeys